In letters from the 1960s, the poet recounts his efforts to succeed as a writer, his inability to quit his day job, and his battles with manic depression and other illnesses
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Charles Bukowski is one of America’s best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in 1920 in Andernach, Germany, to an American soldier father and a German mother, and brought to the United States at the age of two. He was raised in Los Angeles and lived there for more than fifty years. He died in San Pedro, California, on March 9, 1994, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp.
This wonderful collection of letters chronicles Bukowski's life from his first days as a poet having meager success through his resignation from his postal job to pursue writing as his sole source of income. In between, the letters reveal in raw and uncensored fashion how a hard-drinking, hard-living man followed his own vision of poetic truth and artistic integrity. Earlier letters are written to the few editors, poets and admirers who had become aware of Bukowski's wild poetry. In them, we see the 40-year-old author struggling to make ends meet through an alcoholic stupor of which he is neither ashamed nor apologetic. We read of his thrill as his first book appears-- directly in the aftermath of the assassination of JFK. Even as his fame grows and his friends are convinced that he has made it, Bukowski remains in ill health and financial insecurity. The honesty, humor and lack of pretension in these letters make them a must for Bukowski fans and an engaging read for anyone interested in literary lives. Reproductions of letters and an afterword by Cooney round out the volume nicely.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Hardcover. Condition: Fine. No Jacket. Limited Edition. "600 special hardback copies are numbered & signed by the author" stated with handwritten "354" on limitation page. Fine hardback. No dust jacket. In plain mylar protective cover. Only trivial, if any signs of age/wear/previous use. Signed by author on blank page after copyright page. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 107245
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Seller: Gregor Rare Books, Langley, WA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Limited Edition. A Fine copy in a mylar dj. 1/600 copies Signed by Bukowski & numbered. "I wrote letters because they just came out. They were a need. A scream. A laugh. Something.I never thought of an audience outside of the letters. If I had, they would have been shitty letters.Writing letters, like writing poems, stories, novels, helps to keep me from going crazy or from quitting. I write letters at night when I am drinking, just as I write my other stuff. ". Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 22317
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Seller: Kurt Gippert Bookseller (ABAA), Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+ condition. 1st Edition. 372 pages of text including an index. Hardcover binding with minimal rubbing to the extremities. Protected in a clear acetate jacket which is slightly rubbed. Limited edition: number 175 of 300 copies signed by the author on a special limitation page, and with a silk screen print by the author. Title page printed in red and black. The text is clean and unmarked. Minor amount of smudging to the closed page edges. First edition. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. Signed by Author(s). Book. Seller Inventory # 018379
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Seller: Gregor Rare Books, Langley, WA, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Limited Edition. A Fine copy in a Fine mylar dust jacket. 1/326 copies Signed by Bukowski with a Bukowski seriagraph print. This collection of letters chronicles Bukowski's life from his first days as a poet having meager success through his resignation from his postal job to pursue writing as his sole source of income. In between, the letters reveal in raw and uncensored fashion how a hard-drinking, hard-living man followed his own vision of poetic truth and artistic integrity. Earlier letters are written to the few editors, poets and admirers who had become aware of Bukowski's wild poetry. In them, we see the 40-year-old author struggling to make ends meet through an alcoholic stupor of which he is neither ashamed nor apologetic. We read of his thrill as his first book appears-- directly in the aftermath of the assassination of JFK. Even as his fame grows and his friends are convinced that he has made it, Bukowski remains in ill health and financial insecurity. The honesty, humor and lack of pretension in these letters make them a must for Bukowski fans and an engaging read for anyone interested in literary lives. Reproductions of letters and an afterword by Cooney round out the volume nicely. Seller Inventory # 22605
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Seller: The Book House, Inc. - St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.
Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Cover. Limited Edition. Very Good with pictorial cover, Limited numbered edition #557 of 600 SIGNED by Bukowski. Signed. Seller Inventory # 180425-MYB29
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